And the emotion that was etched on his face as he wheeled away to celebrate was again in evidence as he embraced his girlfriend Kerrie Harris at the final whistle and moments later spoke with RTE about a goal that will go down in Irish sporting history.

"I dunno. My body started to carry my legs into the box. Just trust in Wes to put it where it hurts and I've managed to get my head on it. I'm lost for words really, I'm over the moon, emotional. It's unbelievable," he said.

The Norwich player then stopped to take in the sounds of the stadium at Lille as thousands of Irish fans celebrated wildly.